


To Take Cover

by Haicrescendo



Series: What We’re Given [6]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Ozai is a terrible father, aang and his clue-by-four, and Zuko is a mess, be gay do crimes, but only if your names are toph and zuko, casually beautiful zuko, field trip to the sewer!, hand waving canon because fuck it, how the fuck did this happen?, if you didn’t wanna be robbed you shouldn’t have been a dick, just a little casual attempted fratricide between friends, like seriously this shit is a mess, nothing like vibing instantly with a child-sized lie detector, roof crawling for dummies, thank agni for toph, the ba sing shitshow, we loot because we love, zuko has no chill, zuko’s sudden realization that he is a massive tea snob
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:55:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23824927
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Haicrescendo/pseuds/Haicrescendo
Summary: [“So,” she says, “The question is: what do we need from each other?”“I need to warn the Avatar. Someone’s coming for him and he needs to get out of this city.”“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Toph replies with the frustration of somebody who’s tried really spirits-damned hard, “Not til he finds Appa.”“Then I have to find the bison, and then get the Aang out of here. He’s not...he’s not prepared,” And Zuko can’t hold back the note of tightly controlled hysteria from his voice, “She’s going to come for him and he’s going to underestimate her, and she’s going to let him.”]Or,In which Zuko goes to a family reunion, commits some casual felonies, and drinks some really bad tea, not necessarily in that order.
Series: What We’re Given [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1537510
Comments: 663
Kudos: 5399
Collections: Avatar the Last Air Bender, Finished111, The Last Rec List





	To Take Cover

**Author's Note:**

> WELL HERE IT IS. If you’ve followed me for a while on tumblr, you may remember the phrase Ba Sing Shitshow. This is where it comes from.
> 
> If you enjoyed this, please leave me a comment and let me know! You can come scream at me on tumblr @sword-and-stars.

* * *

Zuko is going to murder Aang.

He’s not going to truss him up and take him to the Fire Lord, but he’s definitely going to murder him for all the trouble he’s causing. Bad enough that he keeps flopping around like a stray noodle all over the spirits-damned Earth Kingdom, but he’s almost definitely working Appa too hard. Zuko’s running pretty much entirely off of fumes and terror. 

Whenever he gets tired, now, he forces himself to think _Azula_ to get the blood pumping again.

He hasn’t seen his sister in three years, but he’s sure that she hasn’t changed if the Fire Lord’s still so fucking proud of her. If anything, the changes are going to be awful. And terrifying.

She was thrilled when he was banished, less thrilled when she found out that banishment didn’t take him right the fuck out of succession. The Fire Sages won’t remove him unless he dies because they’re not _totally fucking crazy_ , and that means that if Azula catches him, he’s definitely going to die.

Zuko hasn’t worked this hard to die at the hands of his baby sister.

It’s still fairly likely, but he’s definitely going to try and avoid it.

Unfortunately, the Avatar is being frustratingly difficult to find considering that he leaves a trail wherever he goes. 

Aang’s wild goose chase leads him to Ba Sing Se, and Zuko feels so fucking sick at the sight of that wall that it takes everything he has not to just throw his hands up and go back to Uncle and the Jasmine Dragon and be done with this whole thing. But he’s here, and he’s annoyed, and he’s a lot of things, but he is not a coward.

Getting in is not the hard part.

It’s definitely the gross part, because the walls are tall and thick and guarded, and Zuko doesn’t have time to mess around with papers and permits and getting in the right way. But big cities have running water and running water needs _pipes_.

Zuko finds pipes. Huge, absolutely disgusting pipes that are coated in green-brown sludge and smell like a damned latrine. He briefly considers the merits of common sense, then brushes them off.

He’s here, and he has a job to do. 

Zuko has no clear idea of where he’s going, but he’s got a decent idea of where the sun is at all times. He knows that he needs to go in and up. How in and how up? That remains to be seen. He feels like a roach-rat, slogging through waste and slime, but never let it be said that Zuko is afraid of getting dirty, so he grits his teeth and keeps going.

And then stops.

Up above, there’s a little circle of metal that looks like it can be pushed. Zuko scurries is the ladder and presses up just enough to poke his head out…

Right into the middle of a street in broad daylight.

Fuck.

Zuko closes the manhole and ducks back down onto the sewer. He knows he’s crazy for doing this at all, but nowhere near crazy enough to drag himself out of the underbelly of Ba Sing Se in the swanky part of town. Crazy is not the same as _stupid._

Uncle is going to have _words_ about this when he gets back. If he gets back.

Zuko looks down.

A crumpled piece of paper fluttered in when he closed the lid and he picks it up, opens it…

And groans, because of course.

Scrawled over the paper in black is a picture of, if one tilted their head and squinted a lot, a sky bison. Written under it in a child’s scrawl is _Missing: 1 sky bison. Answers to the name of Appa. If found, please return to the Avatar._

Spirits damn it all.

Zuko rubs his temples and sits down hard where he stands, sludge be damned.

He has to find Aang or one of his friends and warn them of who’s coming after them.

And somehow, Appa is missing too? It’s too convenient for words. 

Zuko’s gotta get out of the sewer.

He keeps walking until he finds another manhole and when he peeks his head out, this time it opens up into an alley. That’s much better. Zuko hauls himself out and tries to scrape off the worst of the sewer scum, without much luck. He’s going to need some different clothes, too, unless he wants everyone in the city to be able to smell him before they see him.

The area he’s popped up in is residential and Middle Ring. It’s not hard to swipe a set of green robes off of somebody’s clothesline, even if it chafes a little at him to be wearing the color. He won’t look Fire Nation, though, not unless someone takes a good look at his eyes, but that rarely happens with strangers. Zuko has never before been so thankful that his scar puts people off.

Zuko doesn’t have too much pride to give himself a quick scrub down in someone’s backyard fountain either.

The green robes are too soft and flimsy for what he's used to, but they cover him up well enough to walk down the street. He keeps his head down and tries to avoid bumping into people but isn’t entirely successful; the city is bustling and crowded, and how does anyone find _anything?_

The way the streets are arranged don’t make sense and even if Zuko knew where he was going, there was no way he’d be able to ask anyone for directions.

There’s a few more flyers about Appa. Zuko pockets one, just to have. It can’t hurt.

How in the fresh hell did the Avatar manage to _lose_ his bison? Zuko’s going to string him up by his ankles for it; Appa is _endangered_. And very possibly _in_ danger.

Zuko blows out a hard breath. Everything’s so damned tall that he can’t even see anything. He pops into an alley and hauls himself up to a rooftop, briefly thankful that all the buildings are so symmetrical and cookie cutter because now he can see a bit better.

...He can see a figure in dark greens in the shadows, who’s definitely not a friendly.

So Zuko does the only thing he can think of and throws himself off the roof—

Right on top of a little girl.

A little girl who hollers “What the _fuck_?!” and makes a solid attempt to throw a wall at him.

“Shit, shit, I am so sorry,” Zuko hisses, nevertheless staring anxiously up where he came from and hoping that the creepy stranger on the roof hadn’t seen him. 

There’s a shuffling, rattling sound on the tiles above them that sounds very much like a creepy stranger coming closer. Zuko is fully prepared to run for his life, only to have the girl tuck her hand into the crook of his elbow.

“Fuck, that’s a— don’t say _anything_ ,” she whispers to him, “Not til I tell you. Not unless you wanna take an unplanned lake vacation. If anybody asks, I’m blind and you’re my seeing-eye servant. Got that?”

Zuko nods and tries to keep his heart inside his body, tries to walk assuredly next to the girl who’s suddenly very much in charge, but at least seems to know what she’s doing, blind or not.

And blind she definitely is, because at no point does she turn her head to look around at him or their surroundings, nor does she so much as stumble on the brick pavings.

They walk silently through a crowd of people, and the girl takes advantage of the noise to mumble, “You see anything? I think we lost him.”

Zuko looks and listens, but sees nothing and hears nothing. Slowly his insides start to unwind, just a bit.

“I think we’re clear,” he whispers back.

The girl sighs and releases his arm.

“You owe me big, buddy. I was _busy_ and not only did you fall on me, but I had to save you from the Dai Li. What did you think you were even doing? Only an idiot goes crawling around on the roofs during the daytime. Not that it matters to me.”

Zuko swallows hard.

“I was, uh, looking for a friend’s...pygmy-puma.”

The girl levels him with a scowling, unseeing glare.

“You’re a really bad liar, man. I think you need to tell me the _truth_. There are a lot of liars in Ba Sing Se.”

* * *

  
  


The girl’s name is Toph, and Zuko does the only thing that he can think of and takes her to a teashop. Somewhere, somehow, Zuko’s sure that Uncle can sense his nephew rifling through his box of “What would Uncle do?”-isms and laughing about it.

It’s a nice enough place but it’s crowded and it’s loud as hell, and perfect for having a conversation that they don’t want to have overheard.

“So. Who are you and what are you doing in Ba Sing Se? Even a blind girl can tell that you don’t belong here,” Toph tells him with a grin, inviting him to join in the joke.

Zuko’s stomach is so tied up in knots that he can’t really appreciate it.

“I’m Li, and I’m looking for the Avatar’s bison,” he finally admits. “Or the Avatar, whichever happens first.”

Toph stares him down for a solid minute, then sighs.

“Wow, Sokka was _right._ That really isn’t your name. They told me about you, a little. A good, Fire Nation exile, huh? I didn’t know that those even existed nowadays.”

“Good enough, I guess,” Zuko grumbles. “Who are you and what are _you_ doing in Ba Sing Se?”

Toph grins at him.

“I’m the greatest earthbender in the world and also Aang’s earthbending teacher. We’re also here to find Appa. Sandbenders stole him and sold him, and we tracked him all the way here, and now we...now we can’t find him.” Toph’s voice goes very small by the end and Zuko glares into the table.

“How the _hell_ does the spirits-damned Avatar manage to let his animal companion get _stolen_ from him?”

“It’s not his fault!” Toph protests, “It’s...it’s kind of mine. That’s why I’m trying to find him. I was trying to hold up a library out of the sand and I needed...both...hands?”

Zuko drops his head onto the table and sighs very deeply into the grain of the wood, just in time for their tea to arrive. It’s overpriced but hopefully will taste decent enough that he won’t regret it, and the floral scent of jasmine wafting out of the porcelain cup helps settle his stomach enough that he probably won’t throw up.

The first sip makes him glare with disgust and set it back down onto the table with a rough clink.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“You’d think for the price they’d be able to brew a decent cup of jasmine without scalding the hell out of it? I don’t even—“

Zuko doesn’t even _like_ jasmine, but he desperately wants something right now that feels like home, and home is a teashop built out of an old warship, and home is an island that belongs to nobody, and home is Uncle who knows better than to overheat the water.

“Damn Uncle, turning me into a _tea snob._ ”

Toph snorts and pushes her cup at him, pulls his back to her.

“See how the oolong stands up.”

The oolong is better, objectively, because it can handle being boiled. Toph drinks his rejected jasmine without complaints.

“So,” she says, “The question is: what do we need from each other?”

“I need to warn the Avatar. Someone’s coming for him and he needs to get out of this city.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Toph replies with the frustration of somebody who’s tried, “Not til he finds Appa.”

“Then I have to find the bison, and then get the Aang out of here. He’s not...he’s not _prepared_ ,” And Zuko can’t hold back the note of tightly controlled hysteria from his voice, “She’s going to come for him, and he’s going to underestimate her, and she’s going to _let him_.”

“Who’s _she?_ The truth, Sparky.”

Zuko closes his eyes and drags in a hard breath.

“My...my sister. She’s going to find him and she’s going to kill him. She won’t be able to take him alive, she doesn’t—“ he cuts himself off. 

Toph is gaping at him.

“Holy _shit,_ ” she breathes, “Crazy Blue Fire is your sister?”

Spirits, they’ve met Azula before. They’ve met her before and somehow managed to survive the encounter. And if they’ve met Azula before, and Zuko’s just told Toph that they were related...she _knows_. The look on her face tells him that she knows.

“Dude, you’ve _got_ to calm down. Your heartbeat is off the charts and it’s freaking me out,” Toph scolds. “No wonder you’re going by Li these days. That name of yours is a death sentence,” she lowers her voice to a whisper, “Prince Zuko.”

“...Yeah.”

“You’re not gonna ask how I know?”

“I don’t need to. The way you carry yourself says ‘noble’, and I’ve heard all of the jokes. No doubt that they made their rounds to wherever you’re from.”

“Gaoling. My dad does a lot of entertaining.”

Zuko whistles lowly.

“ _Shit._ The Beifongs?”

Toph throws him a thumbs up.

“So, it looks like we want the same things. Are you dedicated to the dark and broody solo act or are you open to a partnership?”

“I’m not _broody_.”

Toph grins at him, all teeth.

“Let’s negotiate, then.”

Zuko holds up a hand.

“Wait. First you have to tell me what you meant earlier by ‘unplanned lake vacation’.”

* * *

Fuck.

_Fuck._

Appa is definitely under Lake Laogai.

Zuko slams his forehead into the table until Toph starts looking _concerned_.

* * *

“Here.”

Toph throws a set of blacks at him and mockingly averts her eyes when Zuko changes into them in the back alley of the Lower Ring.

“Did you…?”

“Couldn’t,” Toph says, tense and shirty. “They were at the palace all day and the house we’re in is monitored constantly. We’re on our own. Hopefully, Twinkletoes can just keep doing what he’s doing long enough to not draw attention to himself.”

Zuko doubts this very much, but doesn’t have a choice in the matter. 

“So, game plan.”

“Yes. There’s probably a way to get it from the outside but it’ll probably be easier to just take the pipes. With your earthbending, you should be able to map out the right paths. It’s not the prettiest way, but it’s probably the safest.”

Toph nods. 

“Right. Then, once we’re in, I’ll take care of the breaking and entering and you can take care of the Dai Li and the sneaking. Bingo, bango, Bao’s your uncle.”

Somehow, Zuko does not think it’s going to be that simple.

  
  


It turns out to literally be that simple.

Zuko puts pressure on the Dai Li agent’s throat until he passes out and then rifles through his clothing, removing spark rocks and the rock cuffs. He considers looting his wallet, because this is the sixth agent in a row and it’s getting annoying, but refrains despite Toph’s snort of disgust. She can swipe his money if she wants, he decides, and she does.

“You know that stealing is wrong, right?”

“Says the guy with four sets of spark rocks in his pocket,” Toph points out, which is fair. “If he wanted to keep his wallet, he shouldn’t have been an asshole.”

Doing sanctioned work for the government doesn’t necessarily make you an asshole, Zuko wants to say, then thinks about it, and changes his mind. On second thought, maybe it does.

Having an earthbender to help tell you where you’re going is _awesome,_ and Zuko makes no hesitation in telling her so, because he could probably do it, but it would likely take forever, which they don’t have.

“What?”

“I said that having an earthbender to help is _awesome_ ,” Zuko repeats, patiently.

“I heard you, I’m just...surprised.”

“Why?”

“Just...wouldn’t have expected someone like— wouldn’t have expected you to be so open-minded. You know, with fire being the superior element, rah rah rah that the rest of y’all do.”

Zuko sighs, a little. It’s a fair assessment, even if he resents it slightly.

“When you’ve been all over, you’d be surprised at who might help you when you need it. There’s dickheads everywhere, and there’s good people, too.”

“Even in the Fire Nation.”

Zuko whips around, startled.

“Huh?”

“You heard me, Sparky. You’re a better guy than you’re ever gonna give yourself credit for being, I think. Even if your people skills are shit.”

“You haven’t even seen my people skills!” Zuko protests.

“I haven’t seen anything, ever, actually,” Toph replies with a smirk. Zuko groans. Right into her trap. He walked _right_ into it. “But no, I can just tell. You’re too bad of a liar. I bet your uncle sets you on the really difficult, annoying customers.”

Zuko is suddenly reminded of a particular man who came in and ordered a cup of ginseng tea with no ginseng. In his rage, Zuko had stomped over to him and slammed down a cup of hot water and stared knives into the man as he drank it with gusto.

He’d gotten a substantial tip for that, actually.

“Ugh.”

“So you admit that they’re shit, then?”

Zuko huffs out a laugh despite himself.

“Yeah, they’re shit.”

“ _Knew it._ ”

Toph stops walking, suddenly, and Zuko nearly runs into her.

“There’s something big just past this wall,” she says, “Can’t tell what it is, though. Could be Appa, could be Dai Li. Any bright ideas?”

Zuko presses himself up against the wall and whistles, high and shrill. From inside the room, he can hear a familiar rumbling and thumping.

“That’s definitely Appa. If he’s being guarded, we’re gonna have to beat them too.”

Toph cracks her knuckles and pulls her hands apart _hard_ , and the wall splits right down the middle, revealing…

An empty room, and one bison.

And then something from across the city _explodes,_ and Zuko knows without knowing, instantly, what it is.

“Agni drunk on a _moonless midnight_ ,” he swears, “Fuck. That’s my sister.”

“Go,” Toph tells him, already bustling towards Appa and snapping his shackles, “Go, I’ll take care of this. How—“

“I’ve got a bison whistle, he’ll be able to hear it from anywhere in the city,” Zuko says, pale and already slightly shaky, “Just get him out and I’ll take care of the rest. Can you open up the shortest path for me?”

“Already done.” 

Before he can go, Toph grabs him by the hand and squeezes it tight.

“Listen, after you save Aang’s butt, you owe me some _good_ jasmine at your uncle’s teashop. Okay? So don’t you dare die or I’m going to come after you for breaking a deal.”

Zuko smiles at her even though she can’t see it, weak but genuine.

“It’s a deal,” he says with a quick salute, and then _runs_ for it.

* * *

Zuko’s heart flies into his throat, because there’s the Avatar, there’s the Avatar’s friends, and _there’s his sister_. For a brief moment, it looks like it could almost be a fair fight, if one ignored the occasional flicker of smug sharpness that shifts through Azula’s face whenever she lets Katara’s water get too close. She doesn’t even have Mai and Ty Lee involved; the two of them are sequestered off to the side, interested but idle. Ty Lee’s got Sokka’s chi-blocked head pillowed in her lap and she’s petting his hair.

She’s _playing_ with them.

Fuck, Zuko’s gonna _die_ for this.

“Enough!” His voice rings out loud and sharp, and at the sound they all stop, Katara breathing hard and Azula going very, very still.

“Li?” Aang asks, drops to the ground and hops off his glider, “What are you doing here?”

Zuko grits his teeth.

“Get back in the _air,_ you stupid airbender, and get the hell out of here before she kills you!” He snarls, “I’ll—“

“Oh my, my, my. Of all the things I was expecting to see today, you were not it, Zuzu. You’re calling yourself Li, now? How quaint.”

Fuuuuuuuck.

Azula is grinning like Zuko has made her whole day, and she ignores her opponents entirely to focus on him. She waves a hand and blue fire rings his back, blocking any sort of retreat that Zuko might have entertained.

“Cute trick,” he mutters.

“Oh, how disappointing. Dad already told you? I wanted it to be a surprise.”

“ _Dad_?” Aang asks and does not take the escape that Zuko’s giving him, because of course he doesn't.

“Azula, don’t—“

“Goodness, you can't _tell?_ ” Azula asks, voice dangerously sweet and oily, waves a hand in Zuko’s direction. “This exiled failure is my exiled failure _brother_. You know, it’s almost like you didn’t want to obey Father’s decree and capture the Avatar! Someone else always has to do your dirty work, Zuzu; it’s a bad habit.”

Zuko has not missed this.

...Ty Lee is waving at him.

“Hi, Zuko! I missed you!” She calls. “You got pretty!”

Zuko waves back at her because he has no other choice.

“Hey, Ty Lee. Good to see you too.”

“Your...your _brother_?” Katara sputters, looking from Zuko to Azula and back to Zuko again. All the color has drained out of her, leaving her ashy and pale. “You’re related to her?”

“You’re related to the _Fire Lord_?”

The words feel damning coming out of Aang’s mouth, and it’s everything Zuko has to not flinch when they land. This is what he wanted to avoid. This is why he _stopped_.

Azula thinks the entire thing is hilarious.

“Do go on,” she says, “This is even better than finding your ship and melting it into the sea with you in it. I didn’t know I was going to get a _show.”_

“You’re the Fire Lord’s...you _can’t_ be!”

“He is, though.”

Azula always lies, except when the truth hurts more. 

“That’s not why I’m here!” Zuko snaps and finally forces himself to move forward. “ _Yes_ , that’s my sister. That’s not the _point—_ “

“When were you gonna say something? Were you just going to kidnap Aang one day when he comes by for tea and ship him off to the Fire Nation? Was that your plan the whole time?!”

Zuko squeezes the bridge of his nose. Azula muffles her peal of laughter into her sleeve.

“ _No,_ you absolutely incompetent— No.” He glares. “And how many times did I tell you to your faces that you shouldn’t trust so easily? How many chances did I have to take you in, if I really wanted to?” Zuko tries to stay calm but he doesn’t know how, and his voice pitches upwards, shifts from incredulity suspiciously towards hysteria. “You told me everything I would have needed to do it, even as I _told you_ not to just trust me! I expected you to have some _brains,_ not—”

He stops.

Do not give Azula anything else to use against him.

“So why didn’t you?” Aang’s face is hurt and open. 

Zuko’s heart rails against his ribs.

Why won’t they just _leave_?

Zuko’s scared out of his mind of Azula, but he’s still here, doing his best to give them an escape, and they won’t _take it_.

“Why didn’t you just take me in?!”

“ _Because I didn’t want to_!” Zuko roars, “Because when I found the bison I found burnt up little kids too and I couldn’t fucking do it! Is that what you want to hear? I gave your people _funeral rites_ , Aang, how the hell was I supposed to sentence the last Air Nomad to death?” He cuts off, bites into his lip so hard it bleeds. The sharp pain is a focus.

“You really think I’m playing the long game, here? Fine! I _know_ that I’m unwanted, I’ve always known it— but if I was going to trap you and take you to the Fire Lord, I’d have done it the minute you swanned onto the Jasmine Dragon, innocent as a would-you-please.” Zuko’s so _mad_ , indignant despite his determination to not care, because that’s just one more thing that’s always been impossible for him to do. 

For a moment, everything is silent, and then Zuko hears, from far away, familiar rumble. Good, then. Toph was able to get Appa out.

“There’s something I need you to do for me, now,” he says softly.

“What’s that?” Aang asks.

Zuko fishes down his shirt for a whistle on a cord and blows into it. The noise it makes isn’t audible but Appa should still be able to hear it. And then with a quiet schick of steel, Zuko draws his blades.

“Get the hell out of here and _out of my way_.”

Zuko breathes out, hard, and flames engulf his dual dao. He knows he can’t beat her with sheer power but he hasn’t been slacking these last few years, and Uncle has always encouraged creativity. Surprise might be enough to keep him alive this time. 

Maybe.

Or maybe not, because Azula whips around with a crazed grin on her face, like this is the best thing that’s ever happened to her.

“Zuzu, my birthday was last month! How did you know that what I wanted most was to be an only child?” She sends blue fire his way and Zuko dodges, rolls over dirt and springs back up into her face.

“Sorry that I didn’t send a card. Daddy’s baby, all grown up and setting cities on fire?” Zuko feints with flaming steel and punches out instead, catches Azula hard in the jaw and sends her flying backwards. 

She snarls at him, all teeth and no longer smiling.

Ty Lee stands up but doesn’t approach, dumping Sokka unceremoniously to the ground. Mai continues to file her nails.

“I guess you learned how to do more than make tea with the old kook, huh?”

Zuko doesn’t answer, just hits the dirt in response to the fire she shoots back at him and whips out a flaming kick that he knows won’t hit. 

Katara at least is taking a damn clue and is trying her best to usher Aang away to where Appa’s waiting, Toph in the saddle. The idiot is _protesting,_ and Zuko helps him make up his mind by grabbing Sokka by the legs and bodily throwing him at them, throws up a wall of fire that blocks them from view.

“That’s _full treason,_ Zuzu,” Azula breathes, gleeful, “You really are an idiot.” 

“At least I’m not an asshole,” Zuko hollers back, “All that power and no room for a fucking _soul!”_

And then the princess stops, looking thoughtful. 

“You know what? You’re right!”

And that’s all the warning Azula gives before she’s sinking into a stance that Zuko isn’t familiar with, and then she’s throwing cold blue lightning—

Not at Zuko, but at Aang, scrambling up into Appa’s saddle. 

The howl that comes out of his mouth will stay with Zuko for the rest of his life.

The boy drops like a stone and Zuko’s brain whites out. _Get them out alive_ is all that exists right now, and Zuko shoves his flames at Appa, ignoring the terrified bellowing that comes out of him and Katara’s hysterical screaming and Toph’s furious rage when the bison lifts off and finally, _finally_ starts flying away. He’ll feel bad about it later, if he lives that long. 

Zuko is beginning to doubt very much his chances of survival.

They both watch the speck of white against the sky get smaller and smaller.

Azula begins to tremble, pale.

“You’re going to pay for that, Zuzu.” 

“Not as much as you will if you show up in the caldera without the Avatar.”

And the burns he gets across his shoulders are worth it for being able to tackle his sister and throw her to the ground. It craters at the force of it, and Azula shrieks wordlessly at him, tries to kick him off.

A knife catches him in the upper arm and then, suddenly, Zuko’s dealing with Azula _and_ the second and third most dangerous women in the Fire Nation, and he’s _definitely_ not going to survive this.

“If you just stopped struggling, this would be a lot easier!” Ty Lee scolds when he dodges a hit that would block his bending entirely, “If you hit me, I’m going to be mad!”

“Telling someone _not_ to struggle when you’re fighting them is a terrible strategy!” Zuko grits out between clenched teeth,

Then just give up, already!”

That is decidedly not an option. 

Zuko either wins, or he’s as good as dead. Azula is the Fire Lord’s favorite, after all.

“I may not be able to win, but you don’t get to either!” Zuko shouts.

Azula throws her hands up and gathers blue fire between them until it’s bigger than she is, throws, and Zuko knows it’s pointless but he reaches out to try and catch it—

And wrenches Azula’s own fire away from her.

It fizzles.

And then a pointed hand jabs Zuko in the ribs and a shirshu dart hits him in the back, and he drops with a clatter of steel and a cloud of heated dust.

“Oh, man, he landed on his _face_ ,” Ty Lee grumbles. “Why’d you have to go and do that, Mai?”

“I don’t know, because that’s my job?” Mai dusts herself off and stares at the prince, boneless and limp in the dirt. 

“Zuzu is _dead_ —“ Azula stomps over and kicks his swords out of reach, even if by some miracle he came to that quickly. “How _dare_ he—“

“You can’t just kill him! He got really cute, it’d be such a shame.” Ty Lee kneels down and rolls Zuko over, brushes his hair out of his face. “We could just...you know, let him go?”

Mai and Azula stare at her, incredulous.

“ _What?_ ”

“We’re not just letting him go, even if anyone with a drop of shame would die at an opponent just leaving them there. At _least_ take him to Boiling Rock. My uncle can make sure he has a good time.” Mai glares down at him, the only expression that isn’t totally unreadable on her face.

Azula takes one very deep breath, inhales, exhales out.

Then smiles down at her unconscious brother.

“I may not have the Avatar, but perhaps Father would appreciate a gift-wrapped traitor instead.”

* * *

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> DON’T COME FOR ME.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Extraction](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27561031) by [00AwkwardPenguin00](https://archiveofourown.org/users/00AwkwardPenguin00/pseuds/00AwkwardPenguin00)




End file.
